Should the RSPBA ban manufacturers of piping/drumming equipment from judging...?

[Steve]

Should the RSPBA ban manufacturers of piping/drumming equipment from judging?


Please give a reason for your vote..

[Vikki]

i "dont give a toss" cause i dont compete with a band as such. depends whether the judges are gonna favour bands that use their products i guess

[Piper of Rose]

Interesting poll. I would like to see discussion for either side. Most inovations in Piping/druming are by the players. Some of these are high grade players that will eventually become judges. I think for the most part judges in the EUSPBA are inpartial. There's only been one that I have seen that I thought needed to be removed.

[An claidheamh soluis]

I voted no.

My main concern is where would you draw the line as to who qualifies as a manufacturer?

Clearly the proprietor of a manufacturing business would be barred from judging. But what if you only work for a manufacturer? Would you then be barred? And how about if you are related to a manufacturer? Would you be barred then?

If manufacturers are barred should people with a connection to a band be barred from judging? For example if your son plays in a band, should you be barred from judging?

In reality, we're only a small fraternity and if we start barring people, we'll be left with no judges in a very short space of time.

I also agree with PoR that most, if not all, judges actually are impartial.

[phyx]

Yes. Either that, or don't let the judges know what brands of piping/drumming equipment they are using (good luck figuring out how).

[Bobby]

These types of questions usually only come up when there are questions about the impartiallity of a judge. I say it's better to look at the record of the judge and deal with the individual. What do you do about the soloist or band that tries to curry favour with a manufacturer/teacher/store owner/judge by purchasing from them or taking lessons from them etc? What about the judge that owns a store or runs seminars? Often the people most qualified to judge are the ones that are the most sought after by bands and soloists for their knowledge and experience. It's an awkward and difficult choice. Better not to have a general rule, but to deal with each individual case as it comes up. Now...how do we find a group of impartial people to investigate and decide if a transgression has occurred and it's not just sour grapes from those that didn't win? ACS ( I can't spell it and I definitely can't pronounce it) is right that we could end up with no one left to judge

[redneck]

voted yes, some good points raised in the above threads. Food for thought though...........the judges will still have their favourites irrespective of whether they are or are not connected directly with the manufacture of piping/drumming related products(this also includes reeds/drum sticks ect.)

Favouring one thing over another is human nature, ya just have to look at the light hearted banter on this site to see who prefers which band........ya think that's any different?.

My opinion is the piping game will never be straight, way too much at stake.

[sass jane]

I voted no....and I think most of my reasons have been previously stated by a few others on here so I won't repeat them...

[true_blue_piper]

I voted "no" as well.

How far do you go ? Just ban bagpipe makers ?
Or also ban those involved in selling highland wear / pipe band goods ? Perhaps ban anyone from judging who's ever played in a pipe band that they might end up judging ?

[Adam]

I also voted no.
Judges should be impartial, if a judge isn't, well, that's because he's that way as an individual, not because of his occupation. Yeah, there's certain individuals that have bad reps for favouring outfits that use certain reed/chanter combinations but in the main, most judges seem impartial to me, (although I do lurk at the bottom of the pipe band food chain).